Saturday: THE BEST THING EVER or maybe the show at the VFW, which includes Idaho Green doing Dead Kennedys. In all honesty I may try to duck out of David Bowie for a bit to go catch Idaho Green because I’m sure that will be a blast.

“David Bowie’s 1987 Glass Spider tour is widely seen as the one of the worst things he ever did, right up there with his 1967 single “The Laughing Gnome,” his 1984 cover of “God Only Knows” and his widely ignored 2000 movie Mr. Rice’s Secret. It’s become shorthand for something pretentious and over the top, a cautionary tale for what happens when an artist gets so big and famous that nobody can tell him something is a bad idea.”

tfw (that feel when) an outfit you would’ve thought was SUPER cool at age, oh, 17, is now a Halloween costume:

those thigh-highs are gonna get ruined in the mosh pit, girl

I am deeply interested in finding out who goes as an “American punk girl” for Halloween. I mean, in high school, I totally used Halloween as an excuse to put my hair in liberty spikes, because that was the only day of the year I could get away with it. (I got up at 5 AM that day and used a mixture of egg whites and gelatin and that shiz stayed UP. I had to drive to school with my head sideways to be able to fit in the car. It remains my finest accomplishment.)

Also, here’s a rather interesting rundown of suggestions from Babble, including a “work-appropriate” punk costume:

this is…almost exactly what I’m wearing to work right now.

also I just realized that my Amazon recommendations are going to be even more garbage-y now than before.

So Oct. 21 is Back to the Future day or some shiz? Yeah, I’ve never seen Back to the Future, could care less. COME AT ME, BRAH. But I have recently watched Boogie Nights AND Die Hard, and I feel like a better woman for it.

Oh, funny thing: I totally said I would probably not make it to He Whose Ox Is Gored at the ZACC, but then lo and behold I strolled over there anyway. There were maybe like six people there, the band was heavy as hell and loud as fawk. I also forgot/didn’t realize that He Whose Ox has a rad lady singer? Go listen to them. I also really appreciate that it was a show that started on time, the touring band played at 9:30 PM and I was in bed at a reasonable hour. I would like to support that kind of thing as often as I can.

The founders of the Taking Back Tuesday emo night in Portland talk about their Top 5 Emo Moments, and it is worth a read if you enjoy jokes about Bright Eyes, and I do.

Hospital Job’s new LP is streaming over at For the Love of Punk. You’ll recall that they’re a rad four-piece with the same principal songwriter as the Copyrights, and a few dorks (cough) were extremely enthusiastic when they played the Palace a while back.

Downtown Boys is a kickass punk band that I wish I’d been paying attention to sooner. They’re a “bilingual political sax punk party from Providence, RI. They write songs about smashing the prison-industrial complex, racism, queerphobia, capitalism, fascism, boredom, and all things people tell us that try to close our minds, eyes, and hearts.” Fuck yeah!

In local news, there’s a lot coming up, including another edition of the VFW’s tribute residencies on Thursday nite. Check the show calendar for some half-assed details! w00t!

Hey punx, dropping a quick note to say that you should be paying attention to the discussion about Whirr saying shitty transphobic things about G.L.O.S.S. Bryne has a good rundown of everything over at the Runout. I am hopeful that this is a sign of punk culture getting better at standing up for marginalized people.

Anyhoo, quick note to say that I’ve updated the show calendar for the next couple weeks. The VFW tribute residencies continue! He Whose Ox Is Gored plays on a weeknight and I will almost undoubtedly flame out, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t! Halloween is just around the corner!

I follow @pilotbacon on Twitter, and you should also, and she recently retweeted this great piece she wrote on being a black woman in the punk scene. If nothing else, it makes me wonder how many other people would get into the punk scene if they felt welcome to join it.

Also I am a smidgen bitter that a bunch of people I follow on Twitter got to see Iron Chic and Dillinger Four last weekend, even though I had (humblebrag) a very cool weekend out in the woods adventuring into caves and swilling moonshine.

BUT I should not complain, besides the assortment of smaller shows, there’s also MC Lars and Shannon and the Clams on the 30th, and Glass Spiders on Halloween! Long live David Bowie!